Sunday 20th August

It's a coolish (27°C) Sunday morning and have decided to get on with the blog, after a dear friend wrote to me asking where it/I was. Thanks for the prompter PG.

The start to this phase of my life (and I'm not speaking for Tiz here) has not been quite as rosy as I'd thought. The reasons are many but I think that overall it is just a personal thing that is happening in my head and of no interest to anyone else.

On with the blog!

We left on Friday 11th August at ~9pm on a Scoot flight from Tullamarine, without incident. We had packed our Osprey 40L backpacks to the maximum allowable carry on weight (10kg) as we did not want to incur any last minute fines or the inconvenience of repacking.

We had watched endless YouTube videos on packing - how to pack/folding vs rolling, what to pack/layering vs fewer season specific clothing, necessary items vs wanted items .... and on and on.

I did the best I could and layered up my clothing to get on the plane and even wore a fishing vest to be able to wear all the very heavy items such as the two power banks, multiple chargers, multiple phone ... yes, I could not help myself with backups for backups for my electronics.

I don't think there will ever be a definitive "best" way to pack but although I'm getting better I still have a long way to go.

My vest, which I think helped me fail better.
It may come in handier in the future than it has thus far.

We had discussed with friends, that are far more experienced than us, the vagaries of carry-on luggage, the rules that apply and how and when the various airlines apply those weight/size rules. On our two flights so far, on the budget airline Scoot, from Melbourne to Singapore to Bangkok it seemed to me that the rules were not that well enforced, if at all.

We arrived in Bangkok at 8am on the morning of Saturday 12th August, after 8 hours flight + 3 hour layover + 2.5 hour flight plus or minus a bit, and not having slept one moment.

We managed to change our bus tickets to an earlier time and went and bought Tiz a SIM for her phone.

Having spent some time in Thailand before made all of this quite easy.

We caught the bus, which was infinitely more comfortable than the plane, at ~ 10:30am and got to Hua Hin bus station at ~3:00pm.

This shot, taken from my seat on the bus, explains highway travel in Thailand.
It's a "free for all", albeit at glacial speed for much of the way.

We got to our apartment in DusitD2 apartments after catching a Grab (Thai's Uber) and were both hungry and tired, but very pleased with the apartment. Smallish but very well fitted out and the whole complex is near new and has excellent amenities. The link shows the complex exactly as it is.

We've been here one week and cannot fault it. The gym and pool make it a very easy place to enjoy.

We'll be here for another 4 weeks and will enjoy the warmth and Hua Hin in general.

Here are a few pics we took in our first week.

Tiz and I at Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) waiting for the bus to Hua Hin

I went to a barber shop close by in a mall, well and mainly used by foreigners, and asked for a shave.
Head and face, as was displayed on their price list.
After about 5 minutes in the chair I'd figured out that I was getting a "styled" haircut, NOT a shave.
After my best attempt at trying to explain that I wanted only my eyebrows left on my head I got this.
A buzz cut, a nicely trimmed moustache and eyebrows.
"Lost in translation" is a way of life here.